Wednesday, July 3, 2013

As a follow-up to my preview where I said the Twins would land Kohl Stewart at #4 (nailed it), here's a look at the rest of the players the Twins selected. Looking at the early rounds, the Twins continued to pursue pitching and nabbed a bunch of catchers, which is definitely a weak spot in the system. After that they went all over the board grabbing some outfielders and even more pitching. They took a number of players near the end that are either high-schoolers that will go on to college or college juniors that might choose to go back for a final year of college ball to improve their draft status.

#4 Kohl Stewart - RHP - R/R - 6'3", 205 - St. Pius X HS (TX)

Texas A&M QB recruit that can already hit 95mph on the radar gun was the top high school pitcher selected in the draft. The Twins have already signed Stewart, so unless he flops in the minors there is no heading back for football. Stewart signed for the slot amount of $4,544,400. Stewart also sports a power slider to go with that heater and has some room to add on some weight to his 6'3" frame. As a high school starter Kohl pitched 40 innings, struck out 59 and had a 0.18 ERA. Opponents hit .099 off of him.

Stewart is also a type 1 diabetic which I think means he needs insulin shots and lots of Quaker Oats.

Looking at the video below you can see the mechanics need a lot of work. He's sometimes falling off to the first base side, sometimes not. He also sometimes over-rotates his hips; especially out of the wind-up. And he's throwing with a lot of arm as it really whips through on pitches. Even his front foot landing spot isn't consistent. He doesn't tip the slider very much at all that I can see, which really makes it effective. And holy crap does he pop the mitt on that fastball. He's wild, but better mechanics should improve that quite a bit.

#43 Ryan Eades - RHP- S/R - 6'3", 200- LSU (LA)

As a Junior, Eades was LSU's Saturday starter in 2013. Eades uses three pitches: a curve, a change and a fastball that can run up to the mid-90s. He had 78 Ks in 100 innings and a 2.79 ERA last season. Some have concerns about his injury history - he had a labrum tear in high school. I'm more in the camp that everyone tears something eventually and he already got the labrum out of the way.

Looking at his mechanics from 2012 it seemed like he got a little tangled with arms and knees when he goes with a full windup. There's also a lot of up and down action with this hands in both the windup and stretch position. He's since corrected that quite a bit, which is nice to see. Today, he's pretty smooth and repeatable. Keith Law mentions in the video below that he expected Eades to go between 21-30, so this seems like good value. Eades has already signed with the Twins for $1.29MM.

#78 Stuart Turner - C- R/R - 6'2", 220- Ole Miss (MS)

Turner was the Johnny Bench Award winner for the best catcher in college baseball this year. He hit .374 with 20 extra base hits and threw out 51% of would-be base stealers. He's considered a good to great defender with just an ok bat at this point. The one vid I found out him showed him getting fooled badly on sliders and change-ups, so I'll just post a pic instead.

Fastball has been clocked anywhere from 88-93. He also throws a solid change and has a slurve thing. He went 10-0 with a 1.91 ERA last year. He's got an old school split hand pump type of windup that will have to go. He's long and lanky and has an easy stride and arm action. He could definitely add some weight.

#140 Aaron Slegers - RHP - R/R - 6'10", 250 - Indiana (IN)

6'10" staff ace at Indiana. Throws around 90, but can get it up higher on occasion. Deron Johnson describes him as a sinkerballer and lord knows we love those guys. Slegers was the Big 10 pitcher of the year and will be joined by fellow Hoosier roommates Dustin Demuth and Ryan Halstead. Slegers threw 106 innings, striking 59 and had a 2.04 ERA. Opposing hitters hit .260 off of him.

Navarretto projects to be a good hitter with a big arm behind the plate. His defense may need some work as evidenced by his passed ball, error and 2 stolen bases in his only game at catcher in the Gulf Coast League. Four teammates of Navarreto's were also drafted in 2013...not bad! Navarreto was also involved in a brawl with a Norman, Oklahoma team that was using racial slurs.

Arlington coach Ron Dickerson told the Pensacola News-Journal that he asked the umpires to address racial slurs earlier in the game. Dickerson claimed the taunts were targeted at his players, many of whom are of Dominican heritage. When the umps warned the Norman bench in the fourth inning, Dickerson claimed someone from the opposing bench said “‘Whiny. Whiny. You’re too big of a black guy to whine like that.’ “

Two innings later, Norman’s D.J. Gasso attempted to score from third base after Arlington pitcher Jonathan Rodriguez threw a wild pitch. Arlington catcher Brian Navarreto tossed the ball back to Rodriguez, who slapped a late tag on Gasso even though the runner had easily beaten the play. After the home plate umpire ejected Rodriguez for the emphatic tag, Navarreto punched Gasso in the face, which caused both benches to empty and more punches to be thrown.

That's Navaretto in the middle with the grimace I think.

#200 Brian Gilbert - RHP - R/R - 6'1", 215 - Seton Hall (NJ)

After starting in prior seasons for the Pirates, Gilbert was converted to closer for this year. Gilbert logged 48.2 innings, striking out 49. The walks were a bit high (22), but he only allowed 1 homerun and a .198 opposing batting average. He also hit 8 dudes.

Deron Johnson says that he was up to 96mph in the Big East tournament. He has good size and I like the delivery for a reliever.

#230 Dustin DeMuth - 3B - L/R - 6'2", 190 - Indiana (IN)

DeMuth was the only third baseman that the Twins took in the draft. DeMuth hit .377 for the Hoosiers and hit 5 homers and 24 doubles in 65 games. He had his worst season of the three as a fielder, committing 19 errors playing 2B, 3B and SS.

Here's a video of Demuth playing the Cape Cod league.

#260 Mitchell Garver - C - L/R - 6'1", 200 - New Mexico (NM)

Senior Garver was an all-american as a Junior, but was not drafted. He's another guy that is a better hitter than he is a catcher at this point. Garver was a finalist for the Johnny Bench award won by Turner. Posted a 377/438/612 with 10 homeruns in 61 games. Threw out 39.6% of baserunners from behind the plate. The video below is a year old. His swing doesn't blow me away as he flies open too early, but you can see he has some pop.

#290 Charles Irby - RHP - R/R - 6'1", 200 - Samford University (AL)
Brings it in the mid-90s as a reliever and has a good curveball. In 91 innings he struck out 90 and walked 33. He allowed a .241 opponents' average. He also hit .383 as a DH.

#410 Zack Granite - CF - L/L - 6'0", 175 - Seton Hall (NJ)
Lead-off man started all 156 games in his career at The Hall. Stole 35 bases, hit .304 and led the team with 32 walks. Height ranges from 5'9" to 6' depending on where you look. Weird.

#560 Jared Wilson - RHP - R/R - 6'4", 210 - University of California - Santa Barbara (CA)Drafted by MN two years in a row. Reliever has a fastball that gets up to the mid-90s. Struck out 10.72 per 9 innings last year.#590 Jason Kanzler - CF - R/R - 6'0", 190 - University of Buffalo (NY)Mid-American Conference player of the year. Hit .330 with 12 homers and 53 RBI in 57 games that year. Also a good defender in CF.

#620 Tyler Stirewalt - RHP - R/R - 6'3", 210 - Fresno State (CA)The fourth of five Fresno State Bulldogs selected in the draft. Also was a QB for the Bulldogs.#650 Alex Swim - C - L/R - 6'0", 185 - Elon University (NC)Led team to Southern Conf championship. Hit .303 in 4 years at Elon. Struck out 8 times in two years in HS varsity level.

#680 Zach Hayden - RHP - R/R - 6'1", 220 - U South Carolina Aiken (SC)
RP with a 6.00 ERA, but had 41 K in 21 IP and has a good breaking ball and fastball.

#710 Brandon Easton - 1B - L/L - 6'4", 200 - Lakeland CC (OH)MLB lists him as a 1B, but my research shows he's a hard-throwing lefty pitcher that had 78 Ks last year. #740 Chad Christiansen - OF - R/R - 6'3", 190 - Nebraska (NE)
Chad is from Cedar Rapids, so he could be playing in his home town next year in low A. Hit .364 and has had time at short and in the OF.